


Sweet Talker

by WhatsHappeningCowboy



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 05:47:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12052587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsHappeningCowboy/pseuds/WhatsHappeningCowboy
Summary: There's something I wanted to tell you.Semi-poetic one-shot collaboration piece. How to say 'I love you.'





	Sweet Talker

_ ‘There’s something I wanted to tell you.’ _

 

It’s the way the sun sets behind you, the way the light plays across your face, casting your skin in molten gold. The way it catches your eyes, the corners crinkling as you laugh, spilling from your lips like a song. Our feet hang over the edge, home below and beside me, and it’s the warmth I lean into as our shoulders press together. It’s in the way your fingers brush and linger against mine as you pass over the bottle, the way your arm slips around my waist to pull me closer, and it’s in the way my heartbeat thrums in my veins at your touch.

I want to say it then, but there’s whiskey on your tongue when it meets mine, the burn warm in the pit of my stomach, and I forget how to think.

 

It’s the way you look when you’re lining up a shot, the way your brow furrows and your body leans, becoming almost fluid. Watching you is like watching a dancer, graceful and balanced, and it’s in every atom of your body as it crouches taut and poised to deliver death with just a single twitch of your fingertip. It’s the rush of adrenaline in my veins when you pull back into cover just in time, the way your lips move and you whisper beneath your breath, count the shots and the seconds until you can lean out again. It’s in your eyes when it’s over, when you turn to grin at me, exhausted but proud, dangerously alive.

I try to say it then, but another hail of gunfire rings overhead, and I figure there’s more important things at hand.

 

It’s the way your lips part softly as the smoke sighs out, the whisper of warm breath in the cold night air. The cigarette hangs idly from your fingers, every movement drawing a pattern of smoke in the air behind you. A trail I could follow for a lifetime. It’s the way your other hand runs slowly through your hair, fingers tangling in the dark strands, the way you lean forward out of the window to peer down at the street below as a cacophony of laughter makes its way up to us. The fireglow matches the burn of the streetlights that filter in from outside, casting your face in shadow, the scars on your skin starkly beautiful as we listen to the town coming alive in the dark. In here, though, in this dingy hotel room, we’re in our own world. And it’s in that, too; in the way the walls hold us here together, the way we can forget the wasteland and the bloodshed and just be.

I think about saying it then, but the cigarette arcs out into the night sky like a shooting star, and you close the window, dousing us in darkness. The bed dips, a yawn cracks my jaw, your nose is cold against the crook of my neck and I drowsily decide it can wait for the morning.

 

It’s the way your hands shake and clutch at the sheets, the way you twist the fabric between your fingers until your knuckles are white, and I know -  _ oh,  _ I know the tension singing through every inch of you. It’s in the perfect curve of your spine as you arch your back, the way your mouth drops open on a gutpunch moan, it’s in the air that shudders out from your lungs in a gasp as I push forward and my blood burns in my veins. It’s your nails on my back, your teeth at my throat, your breath on my skin, your knife in my chest. Your eyes catch mine, a storm over the ocean, and I’m drowning.

I start to say it then, but my voice twists into a moan and the words are lost to the waves that crash through us both.

 

It’s the way my thumb trembles against your skin as it smoothes the grief from your cheek, my fingertips rough but touch gentle. It’s the way the salt tastes on my lips as I kiss away bitter tears, the way my hands find yours and thread our fingers together like it could stitch together all your wounds. I’m the only one you let in to see this side of you, and it’s in the rawness of it, the purity and the pain. Your tears burn into my bare skin as you cling to me like I’m the only thing keeping you in this world, and I try to whisper against the top of your head, try to tell you everything will be okay, I’m here now, I’m here. I’ve got you, you’re okay, and  _ I’m here. _

I can’t say it then, because the grief chokes my throat and claws my chest, but it’s in the way I hold you, the way we rock together and keen for what we’ve lost.

 

It’s in everything. The way your hand squeezes mine to ground me. The way your lip crooks into a smile at my terrible jokes. The way your brow furrows in concentration when you work. The way I know you watch me when you think I’m not looking. The way I watch you, too. The way we bicker over who has to carry what, both of us secretly hoping we’ll lose. The way your hair looks when you run your hands through it. The way your eyes shine when you turn to me and say,  _ look _ . The way you throw yourself before me in a fight, the wild-eyed terror in my face when I think I’ve lost you. It’s the way you hold out a hand to me when I’m down, the firmness of your grip as you pull me back up again to face the world. It’s the way we bandage each other’s wounds, the way we pick each other back up when we fall. The way we find each other’s gaze in the heat of battle, or in the middle of a radstorm, or in a tumbledown building in the dangerous heart of the city in the dead of night - and know we’re  _ home. _

It’s all these things. All these things, and countless more. And it always has been. And it always will.

 

_ ‘There something I wanted to tell you.’ _

_ ‘I know. I know.’ _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Collaboration between myself and my boy [Eisenhexa!](https://eisenhexa.tumblr.com) Please check out the full post with his gorgeous accompanying art over on [my tumblr](https://whatshappeningcowboy.tumblr.com/post/165195779978/theres-something-i-wanted-to-tell-you-art-by) and check out his blog for more incredible Fallout artwork.
> 
> Bit different from my usual stuff, and a little on the artsy poetic side, but DAMN this was fun to do. We wanted to do something cryptic; no names, and be kinda coy with what it's actually about. But it's MacCready and my Sole Survivor, Chiv Arroyo!
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!


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